To Be Insane
by Lina Inverse the Dramata
Summary: Sarah has lost to Jareth. 20years-old she is in an asylum, her parents don't remember Toby and their (second) 4year-old son Lance finally gets to see his sister. Angered by what's happened to her, he decides to change it to right, even if it means changin
1. Chapter 1 - Madness

Notes: What if Sarah lost to Jareth, and in losing Toby to him, went insane when she was sent back with the choice of joining Jareth or staying on earth?

To Be Insane

Chapter 1

Madness

          "Sarah? Sarah? It's us, your family, remember us?" her father's hand touched her own gently.

          "We brought you a new book Sarah, it's about a sorceress-"

          "I don't need books Karen, you should know that he gives me everything I need... Toby and I are happy, really we are. And besides, who needs a sorceress? Jareth's powers are just as powerful. Balls, crystals, forests... have I told you of the midnight dance we had? Toby was unable to attend because he's only seven, but he did enjoy what he saw." Sarah's voice went off into a murmur as she took the book anyway, letting her hands glide over the book.

          Her father winced as he watched his twenty year old daughter, spout off her imaginary world to them inside the home for the disturbed, in her own little room, which had been hers for the past six years.

          'I should never have put so much strain on her... I can't understand what happened that night, we only left her alone for four hours... she should have been fine alone, watching TV, or reading...'

          This had become a very familiar thought in his head whenever they went to visit Sarah. The night they had left her she had been late coming from the park, she had obviously been out practicing or pretending, her white gown had been soaked through, filthy from the dirt that had gotten on it as she had run her way home. 

          When she had gotten home her step-mother, Karen, had scolded her for not coming in at seven and for not being responsible, Sarah was fifteen after all, and had to learn to take responsibilities. He tried consoling her but he had never been very good at it as of late, so with a sigh, he had left with his wife and they had gone out for their dinner, leaving Sarah to calm down.

          At five past midnight they had entered their home only to hear nonsense cries of anguish echo in their hallway. He had immediately rushed upstairs to find his only daughter sobbing uncontrollably on the floor while clutching her stuffed bear to her chest tightly. As if it were the only thing that could comfort her. Beside her was a baby blue blanket, he had no idea where it had come from, and there were four indentations in the carpet, as if something had been there for quite some time and had just been moved... But that wasn't possible, that area of the room had had nothing there except for the hanging picture of Karen, himself and Sarah.

          "Sarah! Sarah... are you all right, what's wrong Sarah?" he went down next to her placing a hand on her shoulder lightly shaking her, in hopes to get her out of her stupor.

          "Toby!" she choked on the name and buried her head into her bear. "He's taken him, and he wants me too! I can't go.... but I can't leave him... You have to help me, he has Toby!"

          "Sarah, who's Toby? What are you talking about?" 

          That seemed to waken her from her tears, she looked up to him, eyes red, face soaked in her salty tears, and a look of shock coming forth. "Wh...What? Dad, TOBY is your SON! My brother! HER child!" she shouted at him, confused and not understanding why he was acting like this.

          "Sarah, come on, get up off this floor, get your face cleaned and then let's talk about this _rationally !" _

          Her body shuddered and she looked to them both. Seeing within their eyes they didn't know WHY she was so ballistic. She was about ready to tear up again, "Dad... you don't remember do you? Not at all? Your only son?"

          "Sarah, you're an only child, you know that very well." he helped stand her up and she trembled as thoughts went racing through her head in realization.

          "No... No no no no no no no...." her words poured out quickly and became panicking as she started going hysteric inside her heart, "Jareth you bastard!!!" she ran out of the room at break neck speed and into her room that was across from theirs, she locked her door. 

          They ran after her the moment she dashed out but failed to make it in time to stop her from shutting and securing the door. Her father grabbed the handle and shook it, "Sarah! Open this door Sarah Ann Grey Williams!"

          The sounds of destruction inside her room were being made, books crashing, precious belongings falling, and the sound of broken glass reverberated for a moment.... 

          "Oh gods Robert, what is she doing?" Karen's face was panicked and she clutched her purse to her chest.

          "Damn you Jareth! Where? Where..." her voice was labored, and quick, unbeknownst to them she was tearing her room apart for some way to get in contact with the man who had stolen her brother. She was searching for his crystal…

          Six hours later around dawn, he finally took a key to the door, and after several different trials found one that substituted for original, and unlocked her door. In opening it he found a disaster area. The bed sheets were torn off of their proper place, stuffed animals were thrown about everywhere, and her mirror had splintered from the impact of her little music box, which lay on the vanity, broken, the only other thing on the vanity was a statue of a man, cane in hand, long cape, with flowing blonde, but wild hair. 

          Beneath the window was Sarah, rocking lightly back and forth holding Lancelot. Her eyes were dry, having cried them out during the night. She was murmuring softly, as he stepped forward around the destruction Karen stayed in the doorway, not daring to take one step in.

          He was barely a foot away when he crouched down and reached out to touch her, his hand stopped as he heard what she was saying, one simple word, over and over again, "Toby."

          He looked desperately out the window to the poplar tree and was startled to see a barn owl perched on one of the branches.

          "What the-" the moment he spoke Sarah looked up to the window, and let out a scream of anger. She jumped up and leaped to her window, her father grabbed her and pulled her back, "Sarah have you lost your mind?!"

          She broke from her trance as her mind let her understand the question through the chaos, she then began to sob, without tears, but much pain echoed in them none the less.  It was exactly that… She had lost. Lost Toby, and with him, her sanity. She slumped in his arms and just shook slightly from her misery. The owl, as if knowing he were the cause of the problem took flight a moment later.

          That was her last day in her room or her home. 


	2. Chapter 2 - Tears Spilt

To Be Insane NKSD Normal NKSD 2 1 2001-11-02T07:20:00Z 2001-11-02T07:20:00Z 3 936 5336 North Kitsap School District 44 10 6552 9.3821 

To Be Insane

Chapter 2: Tears Spilt

            As Robert and Karen left their daughter they walked down the cold lonely hallways with sadness. Karen squeezed Robert's hand gently. Why did he insist on seeing Sarah so often? It obviously hurt him a lot, she herself didn't really care for Sarah, she had always been an immature brat in her sight and the fact she went insane was proof in itself she was a bad apple.

            As they signed out at the front their four year old son walked up to them being followed by a nurse. "Daddy, Daddy! I wanna see my sister, can I?" 

            "I'm sorry Lance, you can't right now, she's not feeling well."

            "She never is." He pouted at his father. How was he to believe his dad that he had a big sister if he hadn't even seen her before? His father ruffled his straight golden hair.

            "Maybe later."

            "Aww. Lemme just SEE her! Just this once! And I'll be good! No desert even!" his blue eyes begged his father and Robert felt his resolve crumble.

            "Well-"

            "Absolutely not! She's insane Robert! Is that the kind of thing you want our son to see?!" Karen's voice was loud in the room and he frowned.

            "Karen, he'll only be seeing her, it SHOULD be done, he barely remembers her NAME at times. This isn't fair to him. And maybe… maybe it could help."

            "What if it doesn't? What if it sends her further into insanity?"

            "I don't think it could Karen, I really don't think it could." He picked up his son was three feet tall, and walked back to the desk. After five minutes of signing in and so on, they were let it, (you can see I don't know DIDLEY bought places like this…) and walked down the halls.

            Lance hugged his father tightly, "Why does she stay in such a lonely place?"

            "I'll tell you when you're older, do you still wanna go?"

            Lance nodded his head resigned, yes this place scared him, but not because of danger, because all around him he sensed sadness, anger, hate, and confusion. Children have a sixth sense, it's whether they listen to it or not that that matters, he usually did, cause most the time he was right, but here, he wanted to see this sister they claimed he had. Why would she be in such an awful place?

            Robert looked into the window of the room and saw his daughter sitting on her bed, which was beneath a window, drawing lines on her blue blanket, and seemingly enjoying the bright sun lighting up the room.

            "I wanna see!"

            "Here you go," Robert lifted lance up higher and Lance grabbed onto the small indentation of where the window was, he leaned in and went silent. She was pretty, prettier then his mommy, and the other girls at pre-school. Her hair reached her waist, chocolate brown, her skin was light, and her face delicate. Her eyes though, he couldn't see her eyes.

            "Can I talk with her?" his voice was a whisper.

            Robert gave a start, "Well…"

            "She looks so lonely."

            Robert pulled his son back to his side, his son was very intelligent, and there was no doubt about that. More so then most kindergarteners, he had no idea how he became so good at speech and understanding, but he was grateful for it. 

            "She probably is… be silent, remember, sometimes she isn't herself, let me talk ok?" Lance nodded and Robert knocked on the door. Sarah turned her head to the door and saw her fathers face in the window and he then opened the door slightly. "Sarah?" he placed Lance on the ground, making sure to hide him from all chances of view, "May I come in? I brought a visitor for you."

            Sarah looked at him quizzically, "Who?"

            "Sarah, while you've been in here, Karen and I had another child." She looked at him blankly. "We had a son."

            "Another one? What… how old is he? What's his name?"

            "He's four Sarah, his name is Lance." She didn't seem to have a reaction yet, he wasn't sure how to interpret that, "May he see you?"

            She was silent for a long time, "Yes."

            Robert walked in the rest of the way and Lance shyly came out from behind the side of the wall. Sarah froze as she looked at her sibling, golden hair fell to his shoulders, he wore blue pants with a collared blue shirt. His eyes were wide and blue, skin light, and face gentle, but filled with apprehension. 

            "To-Toby- -"

            "M-my name is Lance, Sarah." Lance stood his ground for a moment and Sarah looked to father then to Lance. He started walking to her, "I'm four and a half. My birthdays in July."

            Sarah's eyes went watery, "Oh… I'm Sarah… I'm…" her mind stopped, how old was she? Fifteen wasn't it? No of course not… Her emotions danced within her at the sight of this child, was she to scream at her father to keep him from Jareth… Sometimes she would scream and yell, Jareth was evil, others, that she and Toby were fine and with him. Her mind switched constantly from the two. Never a moments peace, sometimes there were moments, she'd burst into tears, and she'd hold her battered bear against her, those were the moments the old Sarah would come back.

            Like now.

            "Lance…" tears spilled over her eyes and she saw him step up in front of her.

            His blue eyes met her hazel eyes and he saw not the insanity the rest of the world saw, he saw hurt, loneliness, pain, betrayal, and madness, not cause from imagination, but from something that REALLY did happen.

            Lance reached up to hug her and in the next moment he was in her arms with her on the bed, she held him to her, like she would have held her lost unremembered brother, and in a moment she was crying harder, but not with madness, with grief. Lance rested against her as she rocked back and forth holding him, he stroked her hair by having his arm under hers, and around her waist. It was as if he was a part of her, he could feel her pain, feel her tears running down his face, and soon enough, he was crying with her, both, strangers till then, holding each other, offering the most precious thing they had… their love.

            Robert watched, scared at first that Lance was crying because he was scared, but as he stepped forward to stop her, he realized, he was not crying in fear, but because she was too. He sat next to his daughter and put his arm around her and they all sat there, holding each other and crying. But in that room, there was more love in their family then there had ever been before.

~*~

Notes: Yes there is more, no it's not over. I wanna know what you people think of this and if I get any, 'write more or we'll lynch ya' I'll continue. I know where this going. For once in my life I have an idea for a story, to the END of it! Review please!


	3. Chapter 3 - Promises To Be Kept

Notes: Ok, I was asked why at four and a half, Lance was freaking intelligent. Well, first off, I NEED him to be. Second, the past that was, was one that was never meant to be. Sarah was SUPPOSED to win, but she lost. Therefore Lance was born to set things right because things went so badly. (No one knows this yet or is out right told, Jareth kinda figures that for himself.) If I can come up with better reasons they'll be in the story later on. ^__^ Anyway, when you guys review I usually write back with a thank you… But sometimes I can't cause no addy, which is peachy. I'll continue this story then due to the many threats.  ^__^ Ok enough with the notes, on with the story!!! 

To Be Insane

Chapter 3 Promises To Be Kept… 

            From that day on, Lance was a common visitor for Sarah, of course they were always supervised, but that didn't matter, things were getting a little better for her, and he was enjoying learning what kind of person she was. After a month of such a better change the doctors allowed her to walk in the hospital gardens with her brother. And more so, the doctor and her parents would be able to watch them from the bench and table area that was next to it.

            As Sarah and Lance walked side by side talking to each other, mostly him talking of his school life, he broke the line of conversation with a sudden question, "Sarah, why are you in here?"

            Sarah looked to him and tried to keep her tone neutral, "Why do you ask that?"

            "You don't want to be here right? So why were you put here?" 

            "What makes you think I was put here Lance?" she picked a leaf off of an over hanging tree and began to fold it, then rip tiny pieces off of it.

            "I don't know… it just seems any normal person wouldn't want to be in such a bad place."

            "If I tell you why you can't tell Dad or Karen about it all right?" Lance nodded.

            "Cross my heart."

            "I was put in here because they thought I was crazy. To a point they were right, but they don't know the real reason why I went insane."

            "What was it?" he sat down on one of the benches next to a rose bush and she sat next to him.

            "This is going to sound hard to believe, but when I was fifteen years old, I had a step brother, just like you, his name was Toby, he was two years old."

            "But momma said that was just your imagination."

            "That's because she's forgotten him. I wished Toby away to the Goblin King Jareth, and Jareth actually took him. I didn't know he was real, but by then it was too late. I refused my dreams and was given thirteen hours to solve his Labyrinth." She then went into telling him her tale with her friends, the dance, and the challenges; he listened quietly, intently, and with a searching look on his face sometimes, "By the end of it… I was in an Escher like room… It was so hard to get to Toby, but finally, at one point, he was right below me, sitting on the edge of the wall… Jareth had tried to stop me again… but… I jumped off the ledge, but as I leapt I heard the clock strike thirteen, and I felt my body falling…. When I landed on the ground… Jareth was holding Toby, and told me he could send me back, and if I wanted to return to call on him using a crystal that would be hidden in my room. If I wanted to come back badly enough, I'd find it… When I got home… everything and anything that could have proved Toby was real, was gone. Mom and Karen got home, but I was ballistic and half mad by then, I locked myself in my room, and I swear I searched desperately, I tore that room apart. All the while thinking, 'I have to get Toby back.'. I never found what I was looking for…"

            Lance slid down to the grass and started to tear out the blades slowly, on at a time, thinking to himself. Sarah sat down next to him.

            "What are you thinking Lance?"

            "Lots of stuff."

            "Like what?"

            "Is your room the one across from mommy and daddy's?"

            "Wha-" she blinked in surprise, "It's still there?"

            He nodded, "It's locked though. They haven't been in it for a while I guess… There's no way to get in. I suppose it makes sense that that was your room, one time I accidentally let Merlin in the house and he ran up the stairs like lightning up to your door and started barking and howling at it while pawing the door jam. I guess he really missed you…"

            Sarah bit back a lump in her throat, "Guess so…"

            He hugged her, "Well I guess I'll just go then."

            "Wait, if I tell you how to get in there, can you bring me back a book, and PROMISE not to read it?" He nodded solemnly. "In my room, in one of the drawers, is 'The Labyrinth', I put it in there before dad could open my door. Outside on the front porch there's an area where I hid the extra key to my room. I was about seven when I did this, now if no one's tampered with it, it should still be there. On the left side of the porch near where the railing connects to the wall, there's an area underneath the railing where a little hide a way spot is. That's where it should be. Now I need you to bring this book to me next time you visit, no reading it, understand?"

            Lance stayed silent for a moment then nodded, "K, I'll get the book for you, I'll make sure to bring it in a backpack next time I see you."

            "All right then…" she hugged him tightly, "I love you Lance, I'll never forget you for this," she smiled at him, "I owe ya one."

*&*

            As Lance drove off with his parents, the hospital slowly going out of view he looked out his side window with a determined glance. He was going to find that book, but if he was going to help Sarah get Toby back, he was going to have to read it himself and find out what to do. He would find the book, and the crystal… then maybe he could help her. Just maybe…

More notes: Yes I promised another chapter in chap 2, I never said how long, I need lots of time to write a longer chapter so I'll add #4 later, and it'll be longer honest. ^_^; Ok you people enjoy your day, I'll post again as soon as I can. (I have LOTS of stories to write on/finish. @_@ )


	4. Chapter 4 - Spandex and Insults

To Be Insane

Chapter 4

Spandex and Insults

(Ok the real titles is… Umm undecided…)

            "Robert help me clean out the shed, it's a sunny day, so let's stop stalling! Get down here!"

            "I'm coming Karen!" Robert sighed and patted Lance on the head, "Listen, your mom and I will be cleaning up in the backyard, you going to be good and play in your room?"

            "Sure." Lance nodded and Robert smiled, and then left. A minute after he left Lance hopped off his bed and raced down from his room down the stairs as fast as he could without slipping and breaking his neck. He made his way to the front door and to the spot where Sarah had told him the key would be. After a few minutes of searching he finally found the little crevice in which the key was hidden. His hand had reached in and he had felt something cold, long, and thin. As he pulled it out he saw it was brass, like the lock, old fashioned, and quite pretty, for a key that is.

            As he half ran back in he heard his mother, "Hey! What do you think your doing?"

            Lance's heart was pounding, he had almost made it to the stairs, he gripped the key tightly and placed it in his pocket discreetly, "What do you mean?"

            "You left the door wide open, you weren't raised in a barn you know." She walked past him and shut and locked it. "I came in for some cleaning supplies, you're behaving now aren't you?"

            He nodded, "Yes mama." He slowly backed up the stairs. "I'm gonna go read now." He then half dashed upstairs and after a moment she heard his door open and shut.

            "I swear he becomes more like Sarah day by day… He's spending too much time with her. I've got to put a stop to this or I'll lose him to the looney bin." Had she been any other parent she would have said the word 'too' after 'bin', but in her eyes, Sarah wasn't her child, she wasn't anything to her. Just a spoiled little brat who never got what she deserved, a severe beating in her case, and was just now paying for it. She opened the closet, grabbed her supplies and went out to her husband.

            As the door downstairs closed, Lance sighed. His bedroom door was closed and he was resting against it, and had been waiting in baited breath. As soon as he was sure he was alone he turned down the hall that veered off from his parents and Sarah's room and went to her door. He looked at it for a moment, silent, then slid the metal key into the lock and opened it. He heard the lock turn and he put his hand to the knob that was at throat level and turned it. 

            Only to find it didn't give. "What the… I unlocked you." He put the key in and tried to unlock it again in case it hadn't unlocked all the way and tried again. Turning the knob he tried again, and then thinking it was stuck pushed against it as hard as he could. After the third shove it gave in. "You think they had sealed you with glue." He spoke to the door despite its silence, and walked in.

            What might have been a pretty room was still in ruins from the last time it had had someone inside. The mirror was still broken and on it he saw a statue of a man and a music box. He went over to it and as he neared the vanity he felt his sneakers crunch as it hit shards of glass.

            His mother had tried cleaning up in here, he had been told by his father and Sarah. When Sarah had been taken one of the things she had ordered was for her room to be left alone. She wanted no one to touch it, especially Karen. Since Sarah had specifically said 'don't' Karen decided to spite her and was going to, Robert didn't know this until it was almost to late, he saw her going into her room with a broom, bucket, rags and various cleaning supplies and was caught just as she was entering her room. 

            _"What are you doing Karen?" he was upset, how could she betray Sarah like this?_

_            "I'm cleaning up this mess. It's filthy and dangerous." She replied as if she was in no wrong in how she was acting._

_            "Sarah nearly begged us not to touch her room and you were going to?" he frowned, "Karen, we should respect that wish, it's the least you could do for your step daughter."_

_            "She is in no way a daughter of mine!" she snapped this out before she could stop it._

_            Robert stared at her in dawning horror, "You are to stay away from her room, Karen. It's the least we can do for her! When she comes back she can take care of it herself!" he went over and went into Sarah's room, above Sarah's bed was a bronze key, he took it, walked back out with Karen, and closed the door and locked it shut._

_            Karen was nearly fuming, "She won't be coming back! This is your fault! Letting her read those useless books and letting her live her fantasy stories! It was no wonder she was failing school! You've spoiled her and because of you-"_

_            "Karen!" his voice was sharp, he put the key into his pocket and turned to her, his eyes brimming with tears, "I'm going out, without you, I need time alone. Do what you will, but leave her room alone!" he walked back down the stairs with his suitcase, pain in his heart, keys in hand, and shut the door behind him._

Lance picked up the small little music box and as he did broken shards fell from it, he carefully wound it up and set it down, closing his eyes as the music played, it was very pretty music. He placed it down and looked at the statue, the man looked so cruel. He reached out and opened the right drawer and in it found on top, the book of the Labyrinth.

            "YES!" he grabbed it and turned around nearly slipping on the glass. As he walked to the door he could see she had shelves of stuffed animals. His eyes followed around the room and his eye caught sight of something brown. "What are you?" he went over and picked it up, a stuffed teddy bear that had been hiding in the sheets that had been torn from the bed. He sat down on the messed up bed and grabbed the patchwork dinosaur from the head of the bed. On impulse he hugged it to his chest and felt something hard within in. His hands searched it and on the back of it was a slot, he reached his hand into it and pulled out what looked like a journal.

            As his hands reached to open it he heard his parents come into the house. "Lance? You doing all right?" he jumped from the bed and taking what he had in his arms ran out of the room. He closed the door as quietly as he could and quietly tried re-locking it. It let out a solid noise as the lock slid into place and picking up journal, pillow, and book in hand ran to his room and opened the door. "I'm fine!" he hid all of the things under his bed and stood back up. "I was just playing with my Lego's!" he quickly grabbed the bucked of said toys and dumped them out onto the floor quietly as he could. His half made plane where was it…

            As he grabbed that into hand his father walked into his room, "Oh wow, what you got there?" he went over to him.

            "Oh just a toy."

            "I see… well why don't I join you?" so he sat down with his son and for a couple of hours enjoyed their own world.

* ~ & ~ *

            That night when his parents were asleep, Lance turned on his light and began reading the book thoroughly; never skipping a page or word, by the end of it his eyelids were drooping and he was exhausted. The book was helping him understand the basics but it didn't give the words to wish things away. Sarah had been very careful not to tell him how to say it. He looked to the diary; there was a very slim chance that it was in there. From what he heard the night she came back she was so busy tearing up her room and getting dragged to Archam Asylum, that if you thought about it, she probably didn't have time to jot down a little good bye to her book.

            He opened up the book and skipped through it, just the last pages. He didn't want to be snooping through her private life. Nothing… nothing, nothing, and a bit of more… You guessed it; nothing. He flipped to the very last page to the hard back of the book and on it were letters in a weird order:

I E G W O E A M E G T

W H O S U M N E A I N

I T B N L O D K W R O

S H L I D C T A A Y W 

            "Sarah… what were you trying to write?" an hour later his wandering eyes began to make sense of the nonsense and soon his eyes noticed… :

I 

W 

I

S H

            His brain did a jump start, " 'I wish' ?!" his eyes then followed back up… "I wish the…" his eyes followed the paper trying to find the pattern to read the words… "Gobl…ins…. Would come… and take me away… right…" he cut himself off. He couldn't finish that. He didn't want that. But he had found it… Why had she written the words though?

            He couldn't figure it out… but why look a gift horse in the mouth, tomorrow he might be able to do it… Fight dangers, go through the Labyrinth, run from the Fireys get beaten by rocks… tossed down shafts of hands… 

Maybe it could wait till next week… Or … Month… or maybe when he'd grown taller then three feet tall… "I'll think about this tomorrow… I'm beat." He then placed his head against the book and nodded off.

* ~ & ~ *

            "Lance! What are you doing lying down like that?" Karen walked into the room and looked down at her son, "Young man, don't tell me you stayed up reading some book!"

            "I didn't stay up to late-" he said groggily. He sat up tired and Karen leaned down to pick up the book he had fallen asleep on… Which was his sisters… "HEY!!!" he tried to grab it back but she stepped back and flipped through it. Had she found it on her own she would have read through it, Sarah's or not, Sarah was insane, she had no say in the matter, and the reason she'd read it would have been to spite her. But no, Lance had found it, and for some reason he adored Sarah. 

            "How did you get this young man?!"

            "I found it…" he trailed off.

            "WHERE?" He gulped, he hated lying, he refused to do it, and so he just went silent. "Fine, you're grounded. You stay on this bed and don't touch you're toys until you tell me. And you're not to be visiting you're sister now. She's too much of a bad influence on you! I'm doing this for your own good, I just wish you and Robert could see that!" she added that as his tears began to show.

            "GO AWAY! I HATE YOU!!! LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU ARE A WICKED STEP MOTHER!" he shouted at her, angry beyond belief. Karen's eyes widened and then narrowed.

            "You will stay silent young man or sitting on the bed will be a sore idea once I'm through with your behind." She left his door wide-open and stalked out; sure that Lance's normal obedience was being swayed by her husband's daughter.

            "I hate you!" he shouted after her one last time. He then stomped off the bed and shut the door and locked it. He wiped his tears and sat on the floor, a headache coming on finally. At least she hadn't found the book… He sighed, his privilege to see his sister gone along with her diary. "Oh forget it!" Lance snapped to no one. "I'm going to just try and fix it all now!" he jumped off his bed and then began to pack for his journey.

            He packed his red canvas kid backpack with a riddle book, some candy, his first aid kit he had made in kindergarten when they had been teaching safety, tied a jacket to his waist and leaving said bag on the bed snuck downstairs, and listened quietly, waiting for his chance. When he heard nothing he ran to the kitchen and found it empty, he then proceeded to ransack the kitchen for food. Which he then took upstairs with him.

            By the end of the hour he was holding the 'Labyrinth' book in his hand and his backpack on his back. 

            "Lessee, what were those words?" he paused trying to remember, "Goblin King, Goblin King? Nah can't be right… who would be dumb enough to think THOSE were the words… Hmmm I wish I could remember… That's it! But I have to change that or I'LL be taken away… I wish the Goblin King would come and see me and accept my challenge… Right now!" a dog barked out side and ten minutes later he was growing bored. His mind willed it to work. His sister COULDN'T be insane! The magic had to be real! 

"Man if you do exist, and you heard me, and you still aren't answering, you suck!" he sat himself on the bed pouting all the way and stayed there for another three minutes. He sensed something within the air, amusement, curiosity, but he couldn't see anyone… It was as if something was reacting to his words of anger… "It figures! You come when SARAH wished Toby away," the air seemed to stir as if startled by a name it had refused to hear for years, "-but you can't answer to her little brother!" the wind outside his window raised a notch, "Do you only play favorites… Jareth?" the wind blew strongly causing the trees limbs across the street to blow violently in the wind. He knew the Goblin Kings name, he had to answer to that. Didn't he?

"If you're listening to me you might as well come and accept my challenge, because I'm not wishing myself away. That'd be stupid. I want to fix what YOU messed up!" the wind outside died instantly and his lights flashed out, then back in for a minute, then behind him he heard the high and mighty voice.

"All right, you spoke of a challenge. Deliver it, though, I can't imagine what kind of a challenge I would get from a four – year old boy." 

Lance jumped off the bed and spun around to see Jareth, in his all and mighty glory, leaning up against his power rangers poster which was tacked to the wall. He frowned, not even two seconds into meeting this guy and he was all ready being insulted. "You're not the first to underestimate me."

Jareth raised an eyebrow, "Well I suppose no one should ever underestimate a person, age be damned. But in your case I don't think I'll worry too much." He lied easily; this boy was highly intelligent, especially for his age.

"Do you want the challenge or are you going to just stand there in your spandex throwing insults at me?" 

Jareth frowned, "As if you aren't throwing your own."

Lance sighed, "I want to run your Labyrinth, if I win, I get something, if you win, you get me as another servant, or goblin, or whatever."

"Same old challenge… Well what is it you want _IF_ you win?"

"Sarah's past."

Jareth's eyebrows raised and he quickly regained his composure, "Explain."

"She lost to you, but she shouldn't have, she was the hero, you the evil person. She should have won. If I win, I want you to turn back time, change things, set right the persons life you destroyed."

Jareth frowned, "Do you realize what you're asking?"

"Yes. I'm asking you to use your fae magic, and turn back time on earth, to undo what has all ready been, and make it what it was supposed to be. I'm SURE she was supposed to win."

"How would you know what 'should' have been?"

            "Because this is wrong! My sister is in an asylum with bars and flowers as her friends! Being fed drugs because she HAS finally gone delusive after all that time in there! She has been paying for her mess up for five years! That's not fair-" Jareth's face which had been frowning, allowed a small smirk to come across his face, "And as much as you're going to hate it, if I win, I want you to use whatever power it takes to change time."

            "I see." He went silent. "What makes you think I want to accept this challenge, Sarah means nothing to me, to me she's just another person to have failed my Labyrinth."

            "Liar."

            "Excuse me?"

            "I said, 'Liar', are you deaf as well as…" Lance held back the snide comment, insulting the king would not be a good thing, considering he could always just refuse the challenge and just leave. "Listen are you going to accept or not?"

            "Fine…" his mouth had tightened, and with the whirl of a magic crystal they were both in a glade, twenty feet from the nearest labyrinth wall. 

            "You have thirteen hours to solve they Labyrinth, and reach my castle within it, or, the price you shall pay will not only be your freedom, but you're sisters sanity and life. Despite what others think, I know the both of us know she is no more insane then you and I, she just loses herself sometimes because of unhappiness. And were she to stay, she WILL be insane, but I can only erase the memory of you from others who knew you, not Labyrinthinian travelers. Because of having traveled through my labyrinth, to forget spells, she is immune to. Were you to lose, she will have lost another brother to me, and that would be causing more pain then helping."

            "Understood." He set his jaw determinedly. "Well you enjoy those goblins I got a puzzle to solve!" he then began running towards the wall.

            "Such a pity." The voice echoed in the empty air.


	5. Chapter 5 - Tunnels and Fairies

Authors Notes: Ok yes it's been QUITE some time since I wrote but I was having a bit of writers block, and two, I wanted to borrow these nifty little creatures from one of the writers here, but she never wrote back. I wanted to use these nifty man eating vines I read in one of the stories… So I'll just have to use these flowers on vines and… if she gets mad I'll apologize and change it… but ahh well… Anyway I hope this turns out all right. By the way, ShadowDancer, the name in here isn't coincidence. You'll understand what I mean when you read...

Chapter 5

Fairies and Tunnels

Lance stopped running after a few minutes and huffed and puffed out his lost air. _'Ok,'_ he thought to himself, _'no more running for now. Unless some weird monster decides to up and attack me...'_

He looked about him, the land about him looked green and lush, not blank and desolate as Sarah had described, though he wasn't all too sure she had been wrong, for in some places there was sand, and yellowing grass. The labyrinth wall facing him was completely covered in ivy. No, wait, flowers… well, ivy decorated with flowers. Each flower bud was four inches wide when fully bloomed. On the rims of each petal was red, and then in circles that went down the floor it went, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and then purple. In the very center was the pollen that made the flower all the more inviting to the creatures that would wish to suckle from its poisoned golden depths. (Too bad he was unaware of this fact…) 

As he went up to the wall the flowers actually _jingled as the air blew against them, singing out a note whenever a light breeze would grace their petals with the ability for another cry of a possible song. _

Lance was to put it bluntly, entranced. He reached out his small hand towards the beautiful flowers, his fingertips just barely caressing the petal when the vine shot forth and wrapped itself around his arm, yanking him to the wall. Within a moment, the vines had entwined themselves around him, pinning him to the hard stones even as he struggled violently. He cried out, but no matter how hard he tried, the more he moved, the tighter they became, at the moment when he felt he was going to die he heard small voices around him. 

"Who are you human?!" 

"Fine time to ask me who I am! I'm trapped is what I am!" Lance fought to turn his head towards the voice and when he did he found himself looking at a fairy floating at his eye level, it was green, with a bell shaped flower for a hat, and nothing else on. 

"What is your name?" it wasn't really a question, but more of an order for him to answer. 

He looked at it and spoke out, "I… I'm Lance Williams…" 

"What are you doing here?" he snapped once more. 

"I'm enjoying the view of the place four feet higher then I'm normally privileged! That's what…" he wasn't thinking levelly, otherwise he wouldn't have been such a smart ass, being under stress can do that to a person, "I'm trying to save my sister, you have to let me go!" he finally answered. 

"Why should we? You wished away your sister, you knew the price, and you're going to have to suffer with what you deserve!" 

"I never wished ANYONE away! I'm trying to save my sister from where she is!" 

"He lies!" A red fair whispered. 

"Let the Dragranolians eat him. He should never have come here." A grey withered fairy agreed. 

"But humans don't taste good without ketchup!" he said suddenly panicked. _'Stupid, stupid, stupid,'_ he berated himself, _'get to the point and stop making wise cracks.'_ His mind ordered him. "Please! My sister wished her brother Toby away five years ago! Her name is Sarah!" 

This caught their attention, "Sarah Williams? You are her brother?" 

"Yes! She lost, but… she needs help, she's been stuck in an asylum for five years-" 

"She wished her brother away, it is a sin and a crime to wish a loved one away to the goblin king! She has what she deserves!" said the green fairy, which Lance decided was the leader. 

"No, you don't understand, she's been paying her debt for five years, alone, suffering, hated, and near madness. I want to make things right!" Lance pleaded. "I've never done anything wrong to you! I just want to do set something right that went horribly wrong, and give Toby a chance to living a life that was stolen from him!" 

There were several fairies, about fifty to sixty, all fluttering their multi-colored wings, listening to his pleas. 

"Why should we?" another fairy snapped. 

"Because he's an innocent." A small voice answered. 

About twenty of the fairies turned to see a much smaller fairy, purple, with violet hair, and bright red wings, floating between them. Some nodded, "He is…" some said. 

"Maverick, If he honestly wants to fix something, and make something right, who are we to stop someone trying to do good in this world? There are so few people left like him…" she answered again. "Especially with his intelligence." 

The green fairy, Maverick, looked to her, then glared back at Lance. After a moment he flashed brightly twice and all the fairies flew off faster then light. 

Thinking that he was being left to die Lance let out a cry of fear and as he felt himself being pulled upward, he silently sent a plea to the sky to let Sarah forget him if he was to die. Just as he did, the vines pulled him up and over, and pushed him off onto the other side, four feet from the ground, they released him and let him fall. 

"HEY!" he cried out in surprise as he hit his feet then fell to his hands and knees. 

"Hey what? We released you at least." 

Lance looked up to the source of the voice to see the fairy that had defended him, floating in the air, her wings flapped about her furiously as she fought gravity to stay in the air. 

"Than you for helping me." He replied, "But I really have to go-" he stood up and deciding to go straight placed his hands against one side of the wall and constantly kept switching each side searching for hidden entrances, and in fact would check the stones in the floor to see if they looked out of place or suspicious. 

About five minutes of him doing this he heard the small-exasperated voice of the girl fairy. "You know you'll never get anywhere like this. If you want to fondle walls all day that's your choice, but I seriously suggest you turn around and when you reach the stone on your right side, that will be sticking out, you push it, and go through THAT doorway if you wish to make ANY process." 

Lance would have almost glared at her sarcasm and suggestion, but then realized, she was trying to help, even if she had the high and mighty attitude that had been hidden by her meekness in front of the other fairies. 

"Oh… Thanks." He said, he then began jogging down the corridor searching for said stone, only to discover, quite a way down the path, that is was a foot and a half over his head. "Ok, how do you suggest I hit the button oh glorious leader?" 

She sighed, "My name is Aurora, and use your head. If I keep helping it's going to look pretty bad for you." 

He gave his own sigh of confusion and then began searching out the stones. He pushed at several, pulled at branches that broke off with a spray of glitter and he even pounded the wall to some extent. So he then began jumping and reaching out to slap it against the wall. 

"You look absolutely ridiculous." She commented. 

"Oh do be quiet." He gasped out as his fingers just nearly hit it. "It's not fair!" he cried before giving up. 

"Compared to what?" she asked. 

"To… what I think it should be!" he sighed, his arguing would get him nowhere fast. He looked in front of him, and at the bottom of wall, lying against it and melding with the stone, was a sturdy looking branch about two feet long and an inch and a half thick. "AH HA!" he crowed as he grabbed it and then reached up, tilting it so that the point would touch the stone. He then pushed as hard as he could, and soon it began to give, his arms burning it finally, slowly, pushed all the way in, making the bricks begin to fold in amongst themselves to open up to a hole a foot and a half off the ground and two feet wide. 

"Why is the hole so small and the brick so high?" he asked angry. 

"To tease the person." If you're tall, you're mocked by having to crawl through the hole with a bit of difficulty, if you're short, you have one heck of a time opening the damn thing." 

He bent down and began crawling through, within a moment she flew in after him, as his foot pulled out of the way the wall closed in behind him, leaving him to crawl down the long tunnel that had built itself. 

"Sheesh," she fluttered over, and in front of him, the tunnel was small, but not so small that a human adult couldn't crawl through it. "we have a long way to go, well this should be easy I suppose!" she fluttered in front of him and about five minutes later his labored breathing was heard. 

"Are you tired?" she asked turning around. 

Lance shook his head, he was in the dark, and her body literally glowed, but it was not enough, he tilted his head up to the ceiling mere inches above him and he shuddered, positive that they had gotten a bit smaller. "I'm fine…" he panted out. 

"You're sweating…" she noted. 

"I know!" he snapped. He pushed forward quickly, his knees sore, so he opted to walk on his hands and toes, moving quickly, "When does this thing end?!" 

"Err… Usually it's just as thick as the wall." She admitted, "But things DO change around here you know…" 

As he crawled on he noticed that he really didn't have as much room as he did before. Ignoring it he crawled faster, but as he did, his panic began to rise a bit. _'What if it keeps shrinking?!' _he thought, _'What if I end up trapped in this little space!'_ all but ready to scream, he gritted his teeth. His body wanted desperately to do nothing more then to stand up, stretch, and then run, _'Don't panic don't panic don't panic…'_ his mind chanted this frantically. But soon enough it got so that the tunnel was so small, as small as he was, his shoulders would brush the wall occasionally. 

By now even Aurora could see the change, "Lance, we might have a problem-" 

"Aurora… why do things change here?!" he panted out. 

"The times most common for the Labyrinth to change is usually when someone is going through it during a challenge. It usually molds so that it challenges the challenger. It plays on your fears, your hates, desire, love, everything. Almost nothing is sacred in this place-" 

She heard him sob and he stopped moving, "I can't do this Aurora! I can't! The tunnel is going to shrink, and I'll have no way to turn back, I'm trapped!" he cried out. He flopped onto his stomach to give him more room from the ceiling. "I wish I hadn't crawled through this tunnel! I just want out!" his mind all ready set into panic, all he could think of was just how much he wanted with a yearning to be in the open air, he felt so trapped, like he couldn't move his muscles… He let out a scream and pushed against the walls, trying to force them up. "LET ME OUT!" he screamed in complete fear, as he did so and Aurora winced as she actually SAW the tu nnel shrink more, as if responding to his fear.

Aurora then stared at him, he was afraid of enclosed spaces?! "You're claustrophobic?!?" she gaped, "Don't panic you'll make things worse, you have to calm down or you will die! And then where will Sarah be?!" 

Lance buried his head into his arms sobbing, drawing in erratic and deep breaths, "Sarah-" he gasped out, " I _have_ to win!" his body shuddered as he fought to push down the panic that had set itself in his throat, his head, his heart, and his body. "Please help me…" he begged to no one. "I can beat this…" he bit his lip hard, "Think happier thoughts, something else…" his mind slowly returned to a stable state, "It's a tunnel, I might not even be in it, I might just be somewhere else…" his mind fought hard to help him believe that was the reality, the moment he did, he heard Aurora cry out, but not in grief, in joy. 

"YOU DID IT!" she cried. 

He looked up, and indeed he had done it. He was out in the open, lying on the dusty ground, in the middle of the path. He flipped over to look at the sky and let out a sound of relief. "Thank God!" he breathed. 

"Well come on! You can't very well just lie on your back all day, you have a Labyrinth to solve, a sister to save, and a kings arse to kick!" she reminded him. He nodded and stood up. 

"RIGHT." He answered. 

With that he began hurrying down the corridor, energized by the mere fact he was still alive. 

~~&~~ 

Jareth watched in his crystal then released it to the air where it hovered before him. So the little boy managed to pass his tunnel, there were many other puzzles he'd have to solve, so it didn't matter.

He sighed, there was very little chance of that boy winning. That was for sure. So why did he have a sinking feeling that he was going to end up biting the dust in this one?

_'Probably because you cheated the last time you faced one of his kin.' _ His mind answered for him. "Shut up you." He snarled quietly to it. His eyes traveled the length of the wall in the library. Large, extensive, and older then even HIM, it had supplied him with much. '_She was supposed to win, that's how it was supposed to end up, even you know it.' _

He mentally fought back the voice, that he knew was not his own, but someone far older then him, and much wiser, '_She would have destroyed my world; it wouldn't have survived her saying those words. It would have torn my land with her disbelief and we would have died… We were still healing when she came along.' _

_ 'Maybe, but this one will win, she lost her rightful victory, in the end you knew one of her own would take it from you.' _

_ 'Master Grusharin… Just go.'_ He sighed aloud and looked out to the window that had sunlight streaming in. He had to win, this little boy couldn't figure his Labyrinth out, he was just a child after all.

_'Is he?'_ his masters voice echoed in his mind and then he felt it disappear, leaving him alone once more.

~~&~~

Author Notes: Okie I'm SOOOOO sorry it's taken so long to get just THAT out of my head. You wouldn't believe the darn writers block I had with this story… ANYWAY I swear I'll write more but I'm going to get help from a few of my friends for some ideas O.o cause mesa just drying out when it comes to creativity. THAT must be apparent by the writing in this chapter… Okie I'll try to get the next chapter out in a week *crosses fingers* tell me what ya think!!!


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